Zbe Vrobintes.

The Lord Bishop of Salisbury has appointed Friday next to be set apart as a day of humiliation and prayer, in consequence of the national visitation with which this country has been afflicted by the prevalence of cholera. A special service will consequently he held at the cathedral and in the parish churches in this city on that day.—Salisbury Herald.

Mr. Briscoe has retire I from the contest for West Surrey, and been suc- ceeded by Mr. Edgell. The change is attributed to the influence of "the

Reform Club," which is said to be actively favourable to the new candidate, Mr. Edgell is for civil and religious liberty in its most extended form, for an extended suffrage, and for free trade in all respects. On the Conserve. tire side, Mr. W. J. Evelyn has come forward. Mr. Evelyn addressed a meeting of his friends at Epsom on Wednesday: he declared in favour es admitting Jews to Parliament, and of imposing a low duty on corn for revenue, either under a fixed or sliding scale. The nomination-day is fixed for Monday the 10th September.

At Kidderminster, Mr. Gisborne and Mr. Best continue to be candidates. The nomination is fixed for Monday next.

Mr. Feargus O'Connor made his annual visit to his constituents at Not- tingham on Monday; and, "after a statement of his public proceedings during the last twelve months, was reelected by universal suffrage," a con- siderable majority of the crowd holding up their hands for him.

The annual meeting of the Cumberland and Westmoreland Agricultural Society, on Wednesday, was graced by the presence and eloquence of Lord Brougham, who officiated as chairman. In proposing " Our gal. lant defenders in the Army and Navy," Lord Brougham touched upon the Peace topic.

There was no person out of the Society of Friends, and not many in that is spectable and excellent body, who had a greater horror of war than he had. He held it in absolute, utter, and irreconcilable abhorrence. He regarded it as the greatest of all evils; but, unfortunately, as men were constituted, it was a neces- sary evil. They could not help it. It was not necessary that there should be war; but as long as there was war, it was absolutely necessary that there should be the means of self-defence. There were two ways of preventing war; one by preaching in favour of peace, at great meetings as they were called in this coun- try, or congresses as they were termed by foreigners. He had the greatest res spect for those meetings, and for the gentlemen who there displayed their love of peace. Perhaps he should have more respect for some of them if they had not displayed their love of war at other meetings in London; but probably they had been converted on their way across the English Channel. His notion of pm- serving peace was to be prepared to defend ourselves in war. While man was man they could not settle their disputes by arbitration. No doubt, grave ques- tions were often settled by arbitration at law; but there parties were bound to submit. Suppose the doctrine were applied to nations, and, instead of defending themselves by gallant officers, brave soldiers, great admirals, and captains with excellent ships, they had to rely on arbitration, this would happen: an arbitrator would be appointed between us and France, he might decide against France, and then France would go to war with us—appealing to arms against the award of the arbitrator. Charles Fox had justly said that no war was worth one- hundredth part of the cost, even if successful; its only defence was that it might be absolutely necessary in defence of national honour: but how would Fox have looked if he had lived to hear it seriously proposed that armies should be dis- banded, navies broken up, ships placed in ordinary, the Admiralty and Horse Guards abolished, and everything left to arbitration ? He had been invited to attend the Congress now sitting in Paris, and he now gave his answer to the in- vitation. As long as we had a gallant army and an invincible navy, there was no great risk of any nation being rash enough to attack us; and that was a very good security for peace. But it was on the toast of the day—wishing success to the Society— that Lord Brougham expatiated with the most unction and effect. He did not altogether pass by the subject of the Corn-laws, though he professed to abstain from redebating a stale question • for he was as sick of the very name of corn as a lame man could be. He had always maintained, that in the end it would be no damage to either landlord or tenant. He never denied that the im- mediate tendency would be of a kind to press somewhat upon them. He never as- serted, as many foolish and thoughtless people in the giddiness of the moment did, that repealing the Corn-laws would make the loaf larger, or the price of the loaf smaller. He never maintained such proposition—he never could maintain such a proposition ; if he had, the evidence would have been against him every hour of every day since. What its ultimate effects would be, was a very different ques- tion; but he never maintained that such would be its immediate effect, any more than he maintained, as some other agitators for repeal of the Corn-laws began by maintaining, that it would lower wages. Warming with his subject, he exhorted his hearers to diligence in the improve- ment of the earth. This improvement, which was every man's interest—the in- terest of the landlord, of the tenant-farmer, of his workmen, of all the people whether connected with land or not, as consumers—ought to be strenuously, ac- tively, and unremittingly pursued. His noble friend [Lord Lonsdale] had justly adverted to the great importance of draining. It did not require a man to know much of farming to appreciate the importance of that matter. For himself, he hardly knew more than the difference between an ox and a sheep; he scarcely went further in his knowledge of stock than that. He might be able to discri- minate barley from wheat: with barley and rye he might, perhaps, be taken in. In short, he knew almost as little as the Legislature on the subject—it was ut- terly impossible to know less. For instance, they passed a measure—a most im- portant measure, for it was a model act—the iluniciparClauses Act, imposing various penalties for over-driving cattle. They did not know an ox or cow to be cattle; and, in the interpretation-clause, which had been very carefully framed, they said—putting forth doubt, all the knowledge they possessed—" cattle shall be taken to mean horses'. —not very likely to be over-driven; "goats"—not very likely to be over-driven; " mules "—hardlyever seen; "swine "—not to be driven. They might as well talk of driving the Legislature—the only way of driving them was to pull them back. (Continued laughter.) However, the Legislature left out oxen and cows, as if they were not "cattle," and not very likely to be over- driven. He knew almost as little as the Legislature; but, without knowing much more, he could easily tell that as long as the earth was a sponge of water, as in many parts of the country—some not far off, he was sorry to say it—still re- mained, it was utterly useless in ploughing and putting in manure. He had ac- tually seen people throwing lime into wet ground, making lime water—very good for a burn, but of no use to make the ground dry. His noble friend near him had taken the judicious course—deep draining. He had drained to an enormous ex- tent, and he would go on draining until he made his land doubly valuable. From many practical agnculturists he knew that the effect of deep draining had been to double the value of the laud.

He also testified to the effect of liquid manure. Lord Fortescue, himself a very excellent farmer, stated lately at a meeting of a sanatory association, that manure in a state of liquidity, impregnated with offal, applied to the soil—when the ex- periment was tried on a moderate scale—raised the value of the land from 7s. to 16s.; and when tried on a most extensive scale, the value was increased by the liquid flow in the proportion of 7s. to 28s. Lord Fortescne gave the details of these experiments, and he hoped they would be printed and circulated. The operation required! no apparatus—no expense of outlay. It only required that sufficient water should be applied to the manure ; that there should be no sort of hydrophobia—no fear of destroying its forceby diluting. The amount of water was most material to the success of the application. Re recommended the more general use of machinery and steam. A friend of his, a practical agriculturist, informed him that a very important step had been taken for the purpose of saving labour, and thereby economizing the expense of production ; an object which, with care and judicious mechanical contrivances, was always in our power, even when we could not increase the fertility of the soil. The most valuable experiments had been made in the application of steam on a small scale. People were apt to suppose that steam could only be employed on a gigantic scale, for locomotion on railways, or in great manufactories of various kinds; and of course in proportion to the size of . the engine was its expense both "in first cost and in working it by means of fuel. But in the town of Glasgow a person had been able to have a steam-engine not larger than a tea-kettle--he had seen such a one himself; in one instance he bad heard of, one not larger than a tea-pot, which was quite capable of driving a small turning-lathe on which a cutler could work. Still it might be said, this power had only been employed in manufactures; but it might, with the greatest possible advantage in saving la- bour, be introduced into agriculture as well as manufactures. Thrashing ma- chines, straw-cutting machines, and various other engines, might be worked most advantageously by the application of steam; and he had the most confident, san- guine hope, that he should live to see this new and most valuable extension of the application of steam. Why not? His noble friend had asked them to cast their eye back for thirty years; and most ,judicious was his reference. Never had he seen such beautiful cattle, such magnificent horses and bulls, as he had seen that day—not to mention their extraordinary exhibition of poultry. Thirty years ago, no man could have contemplated Such a thing North of the. Trent. He ventured to say, that as great progress had been made during the last twenty or thirty years, in farming and stock, through Cumberland and Westmoreland, as in any other part of England. Perhaps one reason was, they had very great occasion for improvement: .for, certainly, thirty years ago they were not quite in the state they ought to have been. But with reference to steam, if any one, thirty or forty years ago, had said we should go to London and back in twenty-four hours by steam, they would have been laughed to scorn, as though the thing were utterly, absolutely, physically impossible. Dr. Darwin, indeed, by a most wonderful gift of prophecy, anticipated the day, when he said- " Soon shall thy powers, gigantic steam. afar Posh the slow bark; drive the reluctant car."

But he was supposed to be a visionary. Mr. Canning and other wits laughed at him for his poem; but had Dr. Darwin lived he might have laughed at them for the ridicule cast on him, for now steam was the great locomotive power in the universe. It travelled over the sea and over the land—over the sea, in spite of tide, current, and wind—over the land, almost in spite of time itself. What reason had they to doubt that the same wonderful engine which Watt showed applicable to pump up water from the bowels of the earth, split rocks in pieces, or manufacture the machinery of a watch, shall be applied to something between the two—to some of the agricultural works which could now only be executed by dint of well-paid human labour ? He called the attention of farmers to suggestions for a better system of keeping their accounts, as tending to economy above all, and to regularity, a great source of wealth in itself., He hardly ever knew a good farmer on a considerable scale, or one on a moderate scale, who did not to a certain degree perform the office of his own accountant, keeping a regular set of books, as tradesmen were accustomed to do. It was as necessary for the farmer, the manufacturer of corn, as it was for the manufacturer of cotton twist or steel blades, to keep accounts of all the details of his business. He never could tell exactly what state he was in—what was his expenditure, what were his gains or losses—without regular and systematic bookkeeping. He therefore strongly recommended his agnenl- Wel friends, although they might not be so well educated as those lie now ad- dressed, and started back from pen and ink, to adopt a good system of accounts.

The effect of Lord Brougham's animated oratory is indicated in the em- phatic terms with which the Earl of Lonsdale proposed the health of the Chairman— He felt utterly unable adequately to express the sense of obligation which he, in common with alt then present, felt to his noble friend for having consented to take the chair upon that occasion. They all knew the great variety of his noble friend's attainments, as well as his great industry:and quickness in attaining knowledge of every kind. His acquirements were in truth the surprise and admiration of all who had watched his career—and who had not? They must all, therefore, feel great satisfaction in knowing that the enlightened mind of his noble friend was directed to the most important interests of the country; and as agriculture was now to be worked by science, they might hope, from the scientific and philosophi- cal taste of his noble friend, that important results would follow from his appli- cation of chemistry to manures, and mechanics to the improvement of agricultural implements.

The toast was drunk with all the honours, and procured a humorous reply from Lord Brougham in acknowledgment.

At Plymouth, on the 22d August, Lieutenant George Tempest Graham and Master Andrew Elliott were tried by court-martial, for deserting from her Ma- jesty's sloop Childers, in Simons Bay, on the 20th May 1849. Both gentlemen pleaded guilty, and put in mitigatory statements, which attributed their desertion to phrensy produced by the tyrannnof Commander Pitman of the Childers; and declared that they acted on their intention to return home and throw themselves on the mercy of the Lords of the Admiralty.

The following was the gist of Lieutenant Graham's defence. Finding that no exertion on his part was of any service, and smarting under the degradation of being called a liar in the presence of the ship's company, and a strong sense of the injustice under which he suffered, he was driven to a state of desperation, in which he hardly knew what he was doing. To show that his services had not been entirely useless, he stated, that on one occasion, when the Childers was thrown on her broadside in heavy breakers off New Zealand, and when, all was confusion, if he had not himself cut away the main tack of that ship, neither Commander Pitman nor himself would have been present on that day. Again, on that fearful night when the Childers ran on the Prate Shoals, and the foretop- sail was required, the men refused to go aloft; but he led the way, the sail was loosed, and the ship saved; had he not done this, the ship must have been totally lost.

Mr. Elliott's statement was very similar. On the arrival of the Childers from Bombay, after a most tedious passage of sixty-three days, during which he had kept the forenoon and first or afternoon and middle watches, as the log-book would show for each day, besides navigating the ship and performing the other duties of his station, having been dismasted off Cape Natal, and experienced se- veral severe gales on the Agnlhas Bank, taking little or no rest from anxiety for the safety of the vessel—after being in Simon's Bay several days' on the 18th of May p.m., he asked Commander Pitman's leave to go on shore. His answer was, "Yes, certainly." Prisoner thanked him, and retired. Afterwards Commander Pitman called him back, and said, "I could go on shore whenever I liked, with- out waiting for his leave, if he was out of the ship, so long as I made arrange- ments for my watches, and obtained the commanding officer's leave." Prisoner again thanked him, went on shore, and came off again at night ; and on the fol- lowing day, about three p. m.; the Commander not being on board, prisoner availed himself of that permission which he had given him, and, obtaining the command ing officer's leave, went on shore, and returned about nine p.m. The next morn ing he was sent for, 'and before all the commissioned officers of the ship, on the quarter-deck, he was to his utter astonishment accused by Commander Pitman of going on shore without his leave, against his most positive orders, and.in- stantly ordered to his cabin under close arrest. Commander Pitman had at Hong- kong brought charges against him of having been absent from his ship at Shatig- bee, several days, without permission; and on a court of inquiry being instituted, the charges were proved by. the log-books to be utterly, unfciundecl. It was ru- minating on these distressing circumstances that his mind hecame bewildered ; and, fearing the effects of some more dreadful charge, he preferred to leave his

ship, and throw himself on the mercy of his country, than to remain in so dan- gerous and unsafe a position. It did not astonish him to find that he had not pleased Commander Pitman, when he recollected the number of executive officers that had already left the ship, and other circumstances which he could not name. Both gentlemen produced a vast number of certificates of very high character; and both alleged meritorious services. Lieutenant Graham was sentenced by the Court to be imprisoned in Exeter Gaol for twelve calendar months, to be dismissed her Majesty's service, and to be incapable of ever serving again as an officer in the Navy. Mr. Elliott was sen- tenced to six months' imprisonment at Exeter, to be dismissed her Majesty's ser- vice, and to be rendered incapable of ever serving in the Navy again.

Commander Pitman himself has since been put on trial before a court-martial on charges of general cruelty and oppression, and of making false statements in the log of the Childers, during his command from about September 1846 to May 1849. The trial began on Tuesday, and is still going on. The prosecutors were Lieutenant Graham and Mr. Elliott., the gentlemen convicted and sentenced in the preceding case. Lieutenant A. B. B. Carter, who was First-Lieutenant of the Childers from August 1846 to March 1847, was of opinion that Commander Pit- man's conduct to his officers and crew was inconsistent and severe • but he would not say it was cruel or oppressive. He stated that White, a sailor, threw himself over- board and was drowned, immediately after Commander Pitman had told him he should be flogged. The discipline was irregular and the crew disorderly: while he was on board five or six men had been flogged ; and the secondary punishments, such as black-listing, men carrying hammocks and handspikes for hours on their backs, and stopping grog, were very severe, especially as the men were required to perform their regular duties during the punishment. He had quitted the ship because he wished to return home, and was glad of any opportunity to get away from an uncomfortable ship—that is, a ship in which the officers and the com-

mander were not on terms. He heard several of the officers complain of the severity and inconsistency, and wish they were out of the ship; and several others congratulated themselves when they had left the ship. Mr. Elliott, one of the prosecutors, deposed, that a private marine was invalided and became of unsound mind through a cruel punishment for a trifling °Irene°. He described White's suicide; and stated that the matter was " hushed up," the entry in the log-book making no mention of the sentence of flogging, though all the crew ascribed the suicide to that. When at New Zealand, M'Cleat, a seaman, received three dozen lashes for being dirty at divisions, at a time when the wea- ther was very rough and all the men were as dirty as he was. Upwards of thirty witnesses are summoned, and it is expected that the case will occupy several days.

Commander H. G. Wood has been tried by a Naval Court-martial, at Devon- port, for running the sloop Hound upon the rocks of Grand Cayman, and at the idavannah, to the hazard of the sloop in each case. The Court adjudged the first charge to be piroved, and the second to be partly so; and Commander Wood was sentenced to lose one year's rank as a Commander, and to be reprimanded, and admonished to be more cautious in future.

The Honourable Thomas Edward Paget Graves, the son and heir of Lord Graves, has been accidentally drowned, at Plymouth. He was a lad of thirteen; a naval cadet on board the Southampton, but was serving in the Impregnable. The second master of the Impregnable, two midshipmen young Graves, and another cadet, were cruising about in a small boat; some of them were about to change places, and as all stood up to effect this, the boat capsized. Four of the party were quickly rescued by boats; but Mr. Graves was not got out of the water for an hour and a half.

Policeman James Read arrested Daniel Davenport, in the village of Southern near Birmingham, on Thursday, for disobedience to a Magistrate's bastardy-order. As they were going along, Davenport said, " Suppose I won'dn't come, what would you do? "—" Gets cart and fetch you," said Read. "But suppose I won't go now, what will you do? " " Try and carry you," was the reply. , Then, damn your eyes, here's something to carry you! " said Devonport; and, stepping back, he drew a revolving pistol, and fired one of its barrels into Read's ear. Read fell as if dead, and Davenport escaped; the bystanders fearing his pistoL Read did not die immediately, but there was no hope of his life.